Whichever Way The Wind Blows
by WishIWasLily
Summary: After a disastrous fifth year, Lily realizes that she likes James Potter. Rated T for possible language
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've never been one to finish a story. I am hoping that I will be able to finish this one and enjoy it along the way. I'm also really bad about the length of chapters, but hey, we will try something new I guess. Anyways I hope you enjoy and please review!**

**Disclaimer: I wish this belongs to me, but obviously it doesn't. **

Chapter 1

Confessions

A normal person did not stand in front of brick pillars in train stations, but Lily Evans had known for a long time that she wasn't normal. What the passengers in the train station didn't know was that Lily Evans was a witch, and on her way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for her sixth year. Lily was attracting quite a lot of stares, standing at the train station looking at the pillar between Platforms 9 and 10, that is until a train came into the station. People soon stopped paying attention to Lily, and she was free to walk through the barrier.

Lily passed through the barrier with ease, and was soon greeted with the sight of a bright red locomotive, the Hogwarts Express. Lily walked through the crowds of people, looking for someone that she knew. Lily was just about to give up, and get onto the train to look for a compartment when she heard her name being yelled from the crowd.

"Lily!" Lily turned and saw her best friend Alice Prewett running towards her.

"How was your summer?" Alice said as she finally reached Lily."

"You saw me yesterday, Alice"

"I just… never mind then! We should get a compartment, don't want any of the firsties taking our usual spot."

Alice grabbed Lily's hand and jumped aboard the train. All through the corridors, Alice and Lily talked about the upcoming school year, until they reached the compartment that they had been sitting in since first year. Already in the compartment were Alice and Lily's two other friends, Marlene Price and Mary MacDonald.

Marlene, Alice, Mary, and Lily are all Gryffindors and share a dorm together. They are inseparable, and have been friends since second year.

"How was the last few weeks?" Lily asked the two girls.

"Marlene and I went shopping last week and I went on vacation to France with my parents the two weeks before that, but other than that my summer was b-o-r-i-n-g." Mary said, while reading the newest edition of _Witch Weekly_.

"I suppose my summer has been decent. Sam and I went on a few dates, and then shopping with Mary last week, but otherwise I haven't done anything." Marlene stated while trying to braid Mary's hair.

"But who cares about summer, I want to hear about this letter from James Potter that Alice keeps telling me about."

Lily knew that Alice would tell the girls, and that it would be the first topic of discussion if they knew. She sighed and pulled the folded piece of parchment out of her pocket and began to read.

"_Dear Evans,_

_I guess I've never actually written to you before, but I wanted to apologize for what I did to you and Snape (tell him that please). It was uncalled for and mean. I've noticed that I have been an arse and I'm really, really (really) sorry. I hope you can accept my apology and we go on with our acquaintance (I suppose we aren't friends), and maybe become friends one day (hopefully)._

_Anyways, I hope you have had a good summer so far. Mine has been boring, except when Peter and Remus come over (Sirius lives with us you know). Quidditch against the same person gets boring fast, especially when there are only two people playing (don't tell Sirius I said that). We've already read nearly half of the library (it's huge), and have practiced all the sixth year spells (don't worry Evans, we won't get arrested. The wards from the house block the underage magic). _

_I'd love to meet you in Diagon Alley sometime (just as friends, don't worry), so I can give you a real apology instead of this dumb one that's on paper. _

_-James"_

All the girls in the compartment were staring at Lily. Marlene was the first one to break the silence.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well did you go or not?"

"Um… No."

"Why not?"

"My mum and dad won't let me go to London. They told me that they are worried about me, they can tell that something is up. I haven't told them about Voldemort yet and I think they know that something bad is happening in our world."

"Did you tell him?"

"Did I tell him what?"

"Did you tell him why you couldn't come?"

"Of course I did, I wrote a letter back to him explaining why I couldn't come. I'm not rude."

"Well then read it!"

Lily pulled another letter out of her bag, which was a copy of the one she sent James.

"_James,_

_It's okay, about the whole Snape thing. I forgive you. I may have overreacted slightly, but you have your faults too. I was just stressed about O.W.L.S. and I just snapped. Snape won't forgive you by the way, I haven't talked to him since he called me a you-know-what and I don't plan to, but he hates you with every fiber of his being. _

_My summer hasn't been all that great. My sister Petunia came home with her boyfriend Vermin, sorry Vernon. He looks like a whale with a moustache and is incredibly rude. My sister hates magic and continually called me a freak in front of him. He probably thinks that I have some mental disorder, or something like that. Oh well, there isn't really anything I can do about that. _

_As much as I would love to meet you in Diagon Alley, my parents are basically putting me on house arrest. They know something is up in the wizarding world, and I refuse to tell them what is going on. As a result, I can't go anywhere (except Alice's house. My parents _idol _her parents, and are completely okay with me going there). _

_I cannot believe that you have an entire library! I'm drooling thinking about it (not really, but you get the picture). And you get to practice magic! I'm stuck with no magic and no library, but I at least have the television. _

_You can't be too bored with Sirius. My guess is you two are blowing things up everywhere around the house. I wish I was doing something like that._

_With Love,_

_Lily"_

Once again, the compartment around her was silent.

"So, was it bad or did I do alright?"

All at once, the girls were screaming,

"Oh my gosh that's so cute!"

"I can't believe you are writing to each other!"

"When are you going to date?"

The last one caught Lily by surprise.

"Date? What in the world are you talking about? I am not and will not be dating James Potter even though I would like that very much."

Through her surprise, Lily didn't realize exactly what she said. Identical screams were heard throughout the compartment, and once again the girls were all talking at the same time.

"When are you going to ask him out!"

"I'm pretty sure he still likes you, Lily"

_"_Now you really should date!"

None of them noticed the compartment door sliding open, and entering the one person who they were talking about.

"Who is Lilykins going to date?" James Potter said innocently while looking at all the girls.

"Nobody." Lily quietly squeaked out while blushing as red as a tomato.

"Oh, alright then." he said while sitting down next to Lily. He proceeded to start a conversation with Mary and Marlene about Quidditch, since all three were on the Quidditch team. James was the new captain and is excited about the upcoming season. Meanwhile, Lily was having a whispered conversation about what Lily just admitted to.

"So you like James?"

"Shh… and yes, sort of. It's more like a crush."

"When did it happen?"

"After I received his letter. I realized that if he had the balls to apologize for what he did, then we would be okay. And I realized just how hot he is."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"No, I don't think he likes me anymore. If he does anything about it, then yes, I will tell him. I'm not entirely sure how long this crush is even going to last."

"Alright then."

Lily and Alice looked up from the conversation, and noticed that the others were looking at them.

"What?"

"What were you talking about." James said.

"None of your business, and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of it."

"Okay. I'm going to go find the rest of the boys."

"Bye!" all the girls chorused.

As soon as he left, Marlene and Mary looked over to Alice and Lily with raised eyebrows.

"We'll tell you when we get to the dorms tonight, don't want to have any more interruptions."

They seemed satisfied with this answer, and spent the rest of the ride to Hogwarts eating sweets from the trolley and gossiping.

**A/N: So there is nothing extremely exciting in this chapter, I'm hoping for some more excitement as I get further into writing. I hope you like it and remember to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hope you guys liked the last chapter! On a completely different note, I'm going to try and update whenever I can. Be warned, that could mean every few weeks!**

Chapter 2

"New Start"

As Lily was riding to Hogwarts in the horseless carriages, she got her first view of the castle since the beginning of the summer. Lily could feel the excitement building in her stomach as they got closer and closer.

Lily and her friends walked through the Entrance Hall, to the Great Hall where they sat at the Gryffindor table with the rest of their housemates. Just before the first years entered the hall to be sorted, James and his friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew entered the hall and sat across and next to Lily and her friends.

"Where were you guys?" Lily whispered to James, who just happened to be sitting next to her.

"We were setting up our Welcoming Feast prank." He said with a slight smirk.

Lily thought he might have expected her to berate him or something like that, but she just smiled and looked away. The sorting soon started, and by the time they were finished everyone in the hall was starved. Dumbledore stood up from his chair at the Staff Table, and as usual, said "I have a few announcements, but first, let us enjoy this magnificent feast."

Lily turned towards the table, where food had magically appeared on the golden plates. She smiled and put a little bit of everything on her plate. While she was eating, she felt James' arm brush hers. A wave of butterflies flew through her stomach, and she blushed a deep red. Alice, who had been watching their interactions, winked at Lily, and went back to her food. After the desserts appeared and were eaten, Dumbledore stood to give the beginning-of-term announcements.

"To our newest students, welcome! To our returning students, welcome back! As usual, the Forbidden Forest is indeed, forbidden. Mr. Filch has also added Dungbombs to the forbidden items list. The whole list can be seen in his office. Our newest teacher is Professor Brookside, teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Good luck Professor!"

A woman Lily had not seen when she walked in stood up and bowed. Professor Brookside was slim, but curvy . She had blonde hair which was tied in a ponytail at the top of her head. Her robes were quite revealing, and most boys in the hall could be seen staring in awe at her. Surprisingly to Lily, James Potter was not one of those boys. He continued to look at Professor Dumbledore attentively. Lily knew he had something planned, but could not understand what was going to happen.

As soon as Dumbledore spoke again ("Quidditch tryouts will be held sometime between now and the end of September."), the candles above the house tables began to flicker, and soon went out. Some of the younger students began to scream, but almost as soon as the candles went out, they came back to life. The only difference in the hall was that every person looked completely different.

Lily turned to James, and noticed that he had red hair like hers, bright blue eyes, and less defined cheekbones. She grinned when she saw him.

"What did you do? This is fantastic!"

"We found a spell that shows your recessive traits, and we managed to spell the food so that everyone would change. For example, you have light blonde hair and brown eyes."

She looked around the hall and saw some of the funniest things. Dumbledore had blonde hair with dark brown eyes, while McGonagall had dark auburn hair with blue eyes. The funniest had to be Severus Snape, he had light brown hair, with blue eyes.

Dumbledore finally got everyone's attention, and quickly sent them to bed. As the students returned to their common rooms, everyone was buzzing about the newest prank.

Lily walked with Marlene, Mary and Alice to the common rooms where they quickly went up to the dorms to discuss the events that had transpired that day.

….

"So what were you and Alice talking about on the train?" Marlene inquired as soon as the door of their dorm was closed.

"Well, Alice asked if I liked James, and I said it was more of a crush. She asked when I realized it, which was after I received his letter about an apology. She asked if I was going to do anything about it, which I said no, because he probably doesn't like me anyways, and that was it."

Marlene and Mary were staring at Lily, deep in thought, when Alice said "I think they would be cute together, but I don't know if James likes you."

Marlene then blurted out, "He's been in love with you since second year!"

Everyone turned to look at her.

"You remember that brief time when I dated James last year?" All the girls nodded, "Well he told me when we broke up that he had been in love with Lily since second year, and he couldn't stay in a relationship because of it. He also swore me to secrecy until you liked him back."

Lily was feeling nauseous now. She had hoped that maybe James had liked her, but love? She was definitely not expecting that. Lily collapsed on her bed and stared at her curtains while the other girls discussed how probable it was that James _still _loved Lily.

"He probably has decided that a friendship is as far as their relationship is going to go. She has been denying his requests for a date for over four years."

"After four years, I would still expect him to love her. Would he just go on and start long someone else after loving her for so long?"

"I think she should give it a shot."

At this, Lily sat straight up and immediately yelled "No!"

"I don't want to take any chances. If by Christmas he has had no girlfriends or flings, and I still have interest in him, I will tell him. Otherwise, I want you to leave it. It doesn't matter anyways."

"Okay," all the girls said. They were all sure that she would still have feelings for him by Christmas. Slowly, the four best friends got ready for bed and were soon fast asleep, ready for classes in the morning.

**A/N: Hope you liked it! I think I'm posting two in a day! Yikes! How bad is it that I've been writing practically all day on Christmas? My parents are probably going to take away my laptop soon, but lets hope not. Cross your fingers for another chapter in a few hours!**


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